Burner

ABSTRACT

THEIR HEAD POSITIONS IN CONTACT, FUEL ORIFICES ARE FORMED BETWEEN SAID HEAD PORTIONS.   THIS INVENTION CONSISTS OF A BURNER FOR BURNING GASEOUS OR LIQUID FUEL COMPRISING A BUNDLE OR TUBULAR ELEMENTS BUNCHED TOGETHER TO PROVIDE PASSAGES FOR COMBUSTION AIR THROUGH SAID TUBULAR ELEMENTS AND PASSAGES FOR FUEL BETWEEN SAID TUBULAR ELEMENTS, THE ESSENTIAL NOVEL FEATURE OF THE INVENTION CONSISTING IN PROVIDING EACH OF THE TUBULAR ELEMENTS WITH A HEAD PORTION SO SHAPED EXTERNALLY THAT WHEN THE TUBULAR ELEMENTS ARE BUNCHED TOGETHER WITH

J. M HARRIS Feb. 27, 1973 BURNER 3 SheetsSheet"1 Filed Oct. 9, 1970 Feb. 27, 1973 M, HARmS 3,718,426

BURNER Filed Oct. 9, 1970 I 3 Sheets-Sheet B Feb. 27, 1973 Filed Oct. 9, 1970 J. M. HARRIS 3, 718A26 BURNER 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,718,426 BURNER James Michael Harris, London, England, assiguor to Gasmat Burners Limited Filed Oct. 9, 1970, Ser. No. 79,423 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Oct. 16, 1969, 50,828/69 Int. Cl. F23d 13/12 US. Cl. 431-328 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a burner for burning gaseous or liquid fuel and has for its principle object to provide a burner which is especially suitable for burning natural gas.

The burner according to the invention comprises a bundle of tubular elements each open at each of its ends for the supply therethrough of combustion air for said burner, each of said tubular elements being provided at one end with a head portion having an external crosssection such that when said bundle of tubular elements are bunched together with their head portions in contact with each other fuel orifices are formed between said head portions for fuel supplied to said burner.

More specifically the burner according to the invention comprises a housing defining a fuel chamber, an inlet for fuel opening into said chamber, a bundle of tubular elements mounted in said chamber in laterally spaced substantially parallel relationship with each end of each of said tubular elements open to atmosphere, each of said tubular elements being provided at one end with an enlarged head portion having an external cross-section such that when said bundle of tubular elements are bunched together in said chamber with their head portions in contact with each other fuel outlet orifices are formed between said head portions.

The invention also includes a tubular element for use with a burner according to the invention, said tubular element comprising at one end a head portion of enlarged non-circular external cross-section, said tubular element preferably also having a portion whose outer surface tapers inwardly for a short distance from said head portion, and an outwardly flared inner surface at said head portion.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood one particular embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a burner according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a section on the line II--II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an inverted plan view of the burner according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a detail;

FIG. 5 is an axial sectional view on the line V-V of FIG. 6 of one of the tubular elements used with the burner;

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 are plan views of tubular elements having enlarged head portions of dilfere'nt cross-sectional shapes; and

FIG. 9 is a side elevation of the tubular element according to FIG. 8.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 to 3 of these drawings, the burner according to the invention comprises a housing 10, defining a fuel chamber 11, a fuel inlet 12 opening into said chamber and having a connecting piece 12a for connecting a pipe line to a source of fuel supply, and a bundle of tubular elements 13 bunched together in said chamber in laterally spaced substantially parallel relationship.

The base or bottom wall 14 of the housing 10 is provided with a plurality of circular apertures (see FIG. 3) for receiving the lower circular non-headed ends of the tubular elements 13 and the upper wall or top plate 15 of said housing is provided with a hexagonal opening 16 in which enlarged head portions 17 (hereinafter more fully described) of the bunched tubular elements are located in contact with each other with the head portions of the outer ring of tubular elements in close contact with the edges defining said hexagonal opening. Thus it will be seen that said tubular elements are open to the atmosphere at each of their ends.

The aperatures in the base or lower wall 14 of the housing 10 are slightly inwardly tapered, as shown more clearly in FIG. 2, and the lower cylindrical non-headed ends of said tubular elements when inserted in said apertures are splayed out and bonded to the walls of said apertures, for example with an epoxy resin, so as to ensure a fiuid tight joint.

The upper end of each of the tubular elements 13 is provided with a head portion 17 of enlarged non-circular external cross-section. In the particular embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, said head portion is of hexagonal cross-section and the side surfaces of the hexagon are of dished or concave configuration as shown in FIG. 6. By virtue of this configuration the tubular elements can be bunched together in the fuel chamber 11 with the head portion 17 of each tubular element in close contact with .the head portions of adjacent tubular elements so as to define between said head portion a series of narrow outlet orifices 18, FIG. 4, for gas or other fuel fed into chamber 11 through the inlet 12.

With a burner provided with tubular elements having hexagonal head portions with dished or concave side surfaces as abovedescribed, the edges defining the hexagonal opening 16 in the top or upper wall 15 of the burner are corrugated or provided with curved or convex projections 16a which fit closely in the concave sides of adjacent head portions and are bonded to said head portions with, for example, an epoxy resin to form a fluid-tight joint.

In operation of the burner above described, gas or other fuel is fed into chamber 11, circulates around the tubular elements 13 and passes out of said chamber through the burner orifices 18 and when the gas issuing from said orifices is ignited the burning gas or other fuel will cause combustion air to be drawn through said tubular element by induction to mix with the issuing gas or other fuel to produce the required flame.

In order to ensure that a substantially equal volume of gas or other fuel issues from each of the burner orifices 18, the outer surface of each of said tubular elements tapers inwardly for a short distance from said head portion 17, as indicated at 19 in FIG. 5, so that when a bundle of said tubular elements are bunched together, as shown in FIG. 1, the passage between said tubular elements have a reduced cross-sectional area adjacent to the inlet of burner orifices 18 as indicated at 20 in FIG. 2. By this means a turbulence is created at the inlet to said orifice and thereby ensures a uniform distribution of fuel over the entire area of the burner plate and therefore an equal and constant flow of fuel through each of said orifices. I

The inner surface of each of said tubular elements preferably flares outwardly at said head portion as indicated at 23 in FIG. 5.

It will be course be understood that the relative dimension of the fuel orifices 1 8 and the internal diameter and length of the tubular elements will vary in dependence upon the type of gas or other fuel to be burnt. In an experimental burner burning town gas, satisfactory results were obtained with fuel orifices having a depth of .20 inches, a maximum transverse gap dimension of .005 inches and a maximum width of .138 inches with tubular elements having an internal diameter of .192 inches and a length of 1.25 inches.

The tubular elements 13, an example of which is illustrated in FIG. 5, have the advantage that they can be manufactured relatively cheaply by cold forming, for example by impact extrusion.

Whilst a tubular element having an enlarged hexagonal head 17 with dished or concave sides, as in the particular embodiment above described, is at present believed to be the most suitable form, the enlarged head may have other non-circular forms and in order to provide the necessary gap between adjacent heads of said tubular member, when bunched together, to form the fuel orifices 18 a hexagonal headed tubular element need not necessarily be provided with dished or concave sides as shown in FIG. 6, but each of the side surfaces of the hexagon may be provided with an axially extending rib 21 adjacent to the corners of said surfaces (FIGS. 8 and 9-) or the corners defined by adjacent side surfaces of the hexagon are each provided with a rib-like portion or protuberance 22 (FIG. 7).

I claim:

1. A burner for burning fluid fuel comprising a bundle of tubular elements each open at each of its ends for the supply therethrough of combustion air for said burner, each of said tubular elements being provided at one end with a head portion having an external cross-section which provides a plurality of spacer means such that when said bundle of tubular elements are bunched together the spacer means on each head portion contacts each adjacent head portion to provide fuel orifices between said head portions.

2. A burner for burning fluid fuel comprising a housing defining a fuel chamber, an inlet for fuel opening into said chamber, a bundle of tubular elements mounted in said chamber in laterally spaced substantially parallel relationship with each end of each of said tubular elements open to atmosphere, each of said tubular elements being provided at one end with an enlarged head portion having an external cross-section which provides a plurality of spacer means such that when said bundle of tubular elements are bunched together in said chamber the spacer means on each head portion contacts each adjacent head portion to provide fuel orifices between said head portions.

3. A burner for burning gaseous fuel comprising a housing defining a fuel chamber, an inlet for fuel opening into said chamber, a bundle of tubular elements mounted in said chamber in laterally spaced substantially parallel relationship with each end of each of said tubular elements open to atmosphere, each of said tubular elements being provided with a non-headed end at one end and provided at the opposite end thereof with an enlarged head portion having a hexagonal external cross-section with the side surfaces of the hexagon concave in configuration so that when said bundle of tubular elements are bunched together in said chamber with a part of their head portions in contact with each other fuel outlet orifices are formed between said head portions.

4. A burner according to claim 2, wherein the head portion of each of said tubular elements is hexagonal in cross-section and the surfaces of the sides of the hexagon are each provided with an axially extending rib forming said spacer means, said rib being located adjacent to the corners of the hexagon.

5. A burner according to claim 2, wherein the head portion of each of said tubular elements is hexagonal in cross-section and the corners defined by adjacent sides of the hexagon are each provided with an outwardly extending rib-like portion forming said spacer means.

6. A burner according to claim 3, wherein the outer surface of each of said tubular elements tapers inwardly for a short distance from said head portion and the inner surface flares outwardly at said head portion.

7. A burner according to claim 3, wherein said housing defining said chamber is provided with a bottom wall having a plurality of apertures for receiving the nonheaded ends of said tubular elements and a top plate of said housing is provided with a hexagonal opening in which the head portions of each of the tubular elements of the bunched bundle of said elements are located in contact with each other and the edges of said top plate which define said hexagonal opening are provided with convex projections which fit closely in the concave sides of the head portions of the outer ring of tubular elements.

8. A burner according to claim 7, wherein the nonheaded end of each of said tubular elements are splayed out and bonded to the walls of the apertures in said bottom wall.

9. A burner according to claim 2, wherein the outer surfaces of each of said tubular elements tapers inwardly for a short distance from said head portion and the inner surface of said tubular element -flares outwardly at said head portion.

10. In a fluid fuel burner comprising a bundle of tubular elements bunched together to provide passages for combustion air through said elements and fuel orifices between non-circular head portions of said elements, each of said elements is provided with a, hexagonal head portion including a plurality of spacer means, the spacer means on each head portion contacts each adjacent head portion to provide said fuel orifices and each of said tubular elements is provided with an outwardly flared inner surface at said head portion and an inwardly tapered outer surface adjacent to said head portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,628,735 12/1971 Desty 239425.5 3,504,994 4/1970 Desty et al 263l9 A CARROLL B. DORITY, 111., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 239-4255 

